Editing Welsh language (section)

=== Wales ===
{{For|Welsh speaking population figures|#Status}}[[File:Welsh speakers in the 2011 census.png|thumb|upright=1.0|The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh]]
Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history. By 1911, however, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Industrial Revolution |work=Wales History |publisher=[[BBC]] |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/language_industrialrevolution.shtml |access-date=30 December 2011 }}</ref> While this decline continued over the following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in [[1921 United Kingdom census|1981]] with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in [[2021 United Kingdom census|2021]] at 17.8 per cent.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |date=2022-12-06 |title=Welsh language in Wales (Census 2021) {{!}} GOV.WALES |url=https://www.gov.wales/welsh-language-wales-census-2021-html |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=www.gov.wales |language=en}}</ref> By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in [[Welsh-medium education]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Steven |title=Wales launches strategy to double number of Welsh speakers by 2050 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/18/wales-launches-strategy-to-double-number-of-welsh-speakers-by-2050 |access-date=25 February 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=2017-12-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Encouraging' survey suggests rise in Welsh language speakers |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-45611374 |access-date=25 February 2019 |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=2018-09-22}}</ref>

The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of the population of Wales spoke Welsh,<ref name="2004Survey">{{cite web |url=http://linguistics.uoregon.edu/files/admin/file/Course_Documents/Survey_Methods/Survey%20Reports/Welsh%20Survey%20&%20Report%2004.pdf |title=2004 Welsh Language Use Survey: the report |access-date=5 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427211017/http://linguistics.uoregon.edu/files/admin/file/Course_Documents/Survey_Methods/Survey%20Reports/Welsh%20Survey%20%26%20Report%2004.pdf |archive-date=27 April 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> compared with 20.8 per cent in the [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 census]], and 18.5 per cent in the [[1991 census]]. Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the [[2011 United Kingdom census|2011]] and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms.<ref>{{cite web |title=2011 Census: Key Statistics for Wales, March 2011 |publisher=[[Office for National Statistics]] |url=http://ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-unitary-authorities-in-wales/stb-2011-census-key-statistics-for-wales.html#tab---Proficiency-in-Welsh |access-date=12 December 2012 }}</ref><ref name="auto"/> The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in the Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in [[Ceredigion]] and [[Carmarthenshire]] for the first time.<ref>{{cite news |title=2011 Census: Number of Welsh speakers falling |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20677528 |access-date=12 December 2012 |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=11 December 2012 }}</ref> However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welsh language use in Wales (initial findings): July 2019 to March 2020 |url=https://gov.wales/welsh-language-use-wales-initial-findings-july-2019-march-2020-html |access-date=2021-09-16 |publisher=[[Welsh Government]] |language=en }}</ref>

The [[Annual Population Survey]] (APS) by the [[Office for National Statistics]] (ONS) estimated that as of December 2024, approximately 843,500, or 27.4 per cent of the population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language.<ref name=":4" /> Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.1% per cent, 235,700). Around 975,700 people, or 31.7 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.1 per cent (740,400) could read and  22.0 per cent (675,200) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by the census.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Annual Population Survey: Welsh language |url=https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Welsh-Language/Annual-Population-Survey-Welsh-Language |access-date=2021-10-07 |publisher=[[Welsh Government]]}}</ref>

In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.0 per cent (430,000) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in December 2024, with 5.4 per cent (167,000) speaking it weekly and 6.6 per cent (203,300) less often. Approximately 1.4 per cent (42,800) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.6 per cent of the population not being able to speak it.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2024-06-27 |title=Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: April 2023 to March 2024 [HTML] {{!}} GOV.WALES |url=https://www.gov.wales/welsh-language-data-annual-population-survey-april-2023-march-2024-html |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=www.gov.wales |language=en}}</ref>

The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Percentage of adults who speak Welsh (including the percentage that cannot speak Welsh and have some Welsh speaking ability) by local authority |url=https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/National-Survey-for-Wales/Culture-and-Welsh-Language/percentageofadultswhospeakwelshinclthepercentagethatcannotspeakwelshandhavesomewelshspeakingability-by-localauthority |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=statswales.gov.wales}}</ref>

Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh.<ref>Janet Davies, [[University of Wales Press]], [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] (1993). ''The Welsh Language'', page 34</ref> Over the course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census.<ref>{{Citation |last=Williams |first=Colin H. |editor-last=Coupland |editor-first=Nikolas |title=English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change |place=[[Clevedon]], Avon |publisher=Multilingual Matters |year=1990 |contribution=The Anglicisation of Wales |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPwYt3gVbu4C&q=monoglot+welsh+speakers&pg=PA38 |pages=38–41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPwYt3gVbu4C&q=monoglot%20welsh%20speakers&pg=PP1 |isbn=9781853590313 }}
</ref> Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many{{Quantify|date=April 2022}} Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within a single [[discourse]] (known in linguistics as [[code-switching]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=David W. |last2=Wei |first2=Li |title=Code-switching and language control |journal=Bilingualism: Language and Cognition |date=November 2016 |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=883–884 |doi=10.1017/S1366728916000018 }}</ref>

Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally {{lang|cy|[[Gwynedd]]|italic=no}}, [[Conwy (county borough)|Conwy County Borough]], [[Denbighshire]], [[Anglesey]], [[Carmarthenshire]], north [[Pembrokeshire]], {{lang|cy|[[Ceredigion]]|italic=no}}, parts of [[Glamorgan]], and north-west and extreme south-west {{lang|cy|[[Powys]]|italic=no}}. However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welsh speakers by local authority, gender and detailed age groups, 2011 census |url=https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Welsh-Language/welshspeakers-by-localauthority-gender-detailedagegroups-2011census |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616234714/https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Welsh-Language/WelshSpeakers-by-LocalAuthority-Gender-DetailedAgeGroups-2011Census |archive-date=16 June 2016 |publisher=[[Welsh Government]] |access-date=25 February 2019 }}</ref>